ARH312 Study Notes for Finals Apr., 2012

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School

University of Toronto St. George

Department

Archaeology

Course

ARH312Y1

Professor

E.Banning

Semester

Winter

Description

ARH312 Study Notes1Lithic ManufactureFlintknappingLithic AnalysisUsewearWe learn a peoples oCognitive abilitiesoSymbolic artifactsoMobility patternsoLearning communitiesoSubsistence practicesoRange of activitiesoTechnological productionLithic manufacture understood through oEthnoarchaeologyobserving people making stone toolsoExperimental archaeologyreplicating stone tools to answer archaeological questionsoKnapinsreplication for interest and hobbyPopular raw materials used for stone tool manufactureoFlintchertoQuartzoQuartzite oBasalt oObsidian volcanic glassoEven limestone marble etcoChalcedonyOne of the principal limitations to lithic manufactureDifferent materials for different functionsLocal or importedAny sedimentary rock composed mainly of microcrystalline quartz can be considered chertApplications that require an extremely sharp edge or great control over fracture mechanicsobsidian brittle but can hold sharp edgesQuartzite for heavy toolsQuartz tools often small and irregular and holds a sharp edgecommon in places where finegrained cherts and obsidian are not availableBasalt for flaked tools Masons use flaking techniques to shape limestone for building materialVariation in trace elements in the material can tell us where they come from using xray fluorescence and other spectroscopic techniques The properties of raw materials areoBrittle oConchoidal fractureInvolves a shock wave that radiates through the material from the point of impact in a conical fashionHertzian coneoHomogeneityoColour Lithic manufacture a reductive technologyartifacts shaped by removing material from a core or a flakeFlake is the detached piece and the core is the piece that you strikeoPyramidal core preferred To remove a flake there has to beoAn angle less than 90 between the blow and the core platform and oAn angle less than 90 between the core platform and the core faceDifferent reduction techniquesoDirect percussionHardhammer directly hitting the core platform with a hard stone removing a flake creates large thick flakes Softhammer directly hitting the core platform with a soft billet wood antler bone to remove a flake creates finer thinner flakesoBipolar percussionAnvils core is rested on an anvil and a blow from above splits the core force comes from two directions able to split cobblesoIndirect PercussionPunches intermediate tool used to remove flake able to control placement of removal directed forcelong removalsoPressure flaking